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A lot of people tend to focus on the macronutrient factors of weight gain/loss (carbs, protein, fat). To some degree, I think those have an effect. As do the to
by yosito 8y ago
A lot of people tend to focus on the macronutrient factors of weight gain/loss (carbs, protein, fat). To some degree, I think those have an effect. As do the total number of calories consumed/burned. But it seems evident, at least anecdotally, that there are many other environmental factors that signal to our bodies how much fat to store vs burn, and much food to crave. I spend a lot of time with long term travelers and an interesting thing I've noticed is that many men lose weight when they travel long term, while many women gain weight when they travel. I don't really think that can be explained by how many carbs they eat. At least, if that's part of it, it's a very small part.
- oh_sigh 8y agoIt may be come down to behavioral changes while traveling. If your observation is true, maybe men tend to drink less alcohol while traveling, and women tend to eat more.
- CPLX 8y agoI noticed that I definitely lose weight when I am traveling and on vacation and I almost certainly eat and drink more. I'm pretty convinced it's because the regular office working lifestyle is really so sedentary in comparison. We're just used to it so we don't notice the stark difference.
- pfranz 8y agoMost people I know hate traveling for work because the food options presented are less healthy and opportunities for exercise are more limited so they tend to gain weight. I prefer more active vacations opposed to sitting on a beach, but I also love food when traveling so much so that I find more places to eat than reasonable meals. So even when being more active I tend to plateau or gain weight. The worst is traveling to a place where the food isn't good. The one cruise I took eating felt like a chore. There were too many options to eat, but none of the food was very impressive.
- carlob 8y agoI don't know if this applies, but every time I travel in the US I'm amazed by the size of the portions when eating out compared to Europe/Asia. Could this be a factor?
- pgt 8y agoThis could be exaggerated underlying sex differences that move away from the mean during periods of increased eating and physical activity: both men and women consume absolutely more calories while travelling, but men have relatively more muscle.
- erikpukinskis 8y agoCould be that women rely much more on local networks for safety and so being outside that is fundamentally a bigger stress than men similarly outside their network.